Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

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One cannot define what life IS, but we sure as heck can define what it ISN'T.

The UEC is a big project- I'm not just trying to create a single planet, I'm creating an entire galactic society. As such, I need sophonts. LOTS of sophonts. I also want to get as many people involved as possible, so here's the deal: You can submit your ideas for a sapient race here, and if I feel it fits with the UEC, then it'll be added to the official topic. There are a few rules, but the project is fairly wide-open.

RULES:- you MUST have a picture or detailed physical description of your species

- you don't need to go too in-depth (you can just submit a random doodle with no other info if you want!)

- you can even submit races from preexisting projects, as long as they meet the above requirements

That's just about it! If you have questions, post here or PM me.(Also, if anyone wants to design the Chix'acul, please go ahead! I just can't get the little buggers (no pun intended), to look right. Just ignore the physical descriptions I've given of them on other topics.)

"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus

Henry you dick!Mr. Hands"Am I boring? Depends, do you like watching documentaries about 19th and 18th century warfare, having complicated feelings about bismark and crying over the film of winston churchill putting flowers on FDR's grave. If so then I'm so fucking boring. "

One cannot define what life IS, but we sure as heck can define what it ISN'T.

Watcher In The Puddle

Apr 24 2012, 03:41 PM

Asari are humanoids. There.

Oh... and I squealed with joy when I saw this. Too bad my Oka or Snefu cant join in.....But what about the Minrikians....hmmm

Humanoid is being a upright biped with at least two arms, humanesque is being that while also possessing distinctly human facial features. There's a very simple test you can do, but I might go into that...

"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus

Then again, there are plenty of humanesque things that pretty much everyone, including xenophiles and the open-minded, would not touch.

However. There is a test for humanesqueosity.

It is the infamous T.Neo Humanesque Test.

Spoiler: click to toggle

If a certain body feature resembles that of a human, it passes and is assigned a 1. If a certain body feature found on humans is radically different and/or nonexistant, it fails and is assigned a 0. If it is ambiguous, it is assigned an N and not counted. When the number of 1s is greater than the number of 0s, it is humanesque. If they're equal, then the organism is borderline.

It is the only attempt an objective, quantifiable determination of whether an alien organism is 'humanesque' or not. I will most definitely admit that it is flawed; there is too much potential for subjectiveness in determining whether a specific trait is a pass or fail. To resolve that I think there'd need to be considerable guidelines to explain what would and would not be considered a pass in certain cases.

One cannot define what life IS, but we sure as heck can define what it ISN'T.

T.Neo

Apr 25 2012, 01:33 PM

Russwallac, fails when you consider xenophiles and the open-minded.

Then again, there are plenty of humanesque things that pretty much everyone, including xenophiles and the open-minded, would not touch.

However. There is a test for humanesqueosity.

It is the infamous T.Neo Humanesque Test.

Spoiler: click to toggle

If a certain body feature resembles that of a human, it passes and is assigned a 1. If a certain body feature found on humans is radically different and/or nonexistant, it fails and is assigned a 0. If it is ambiguous, it is assigned an N and not counted. When the number of 1s is greater than the number of 0s, it is humanesque. If they're equal, then the organism is borderline.

It is the only attempt an objective, quantifiable determination of whether an alien organism is 'humanesque' or not. I will most definitely admit that it is flawed; there is too much potential for subjectiveness in determining whether a specific trait is a pass or fail. To resolve that I think there'd need to be considerable guidelines to explain what would and would not be considered a pass in certain cases.

Such as..? It's not that I don't believe you; I just can't think of any examples.

Anyway, from my point of view, this is humanoid (if a little on the humanesque side):

And this is humanesque:

"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus